Fair enough, seems like you came up with one you are happy with now. But no reason to nix BKI if that's where you really want to go. I wouldn't spend more than a full day in Kuala Lumpur myself (but I've been there a number of times). I hated Penang (God awful traffic and serious lack of Grab drivers), loved Langkawi and haven't been to Kota Kinabalu yet. LGK can be $100 each way in domestic business, BKI closer to $200 each way, so they're both worth it, especially if scrounging for a few more TPs. Trip.com often discounts MH business class, but I'm not sure if it's only international or not.

BTW, you might save yourself on UK APD by subbing out the LHR stopovers with DUB or somewhere else cheap and easy to get to, like BRU. I can't remember where else in Europe CX flies to, but LON has high APD on premium fares, especially long haul, and CDG isn't much friendlier. Not sure if AMS, Spain, Germany, or Italy would make sense in the end or not, you'd have to test them. I personally just find the UK APD offensive and do as much as I can to avoid it. We're flying into LHR on my next trip and out of DUB for that exact reason, but that's not a RTW where we are considering segment count. ABZ-DUB was $100 each on Loganair (BA code), far less than the UK APD on premium. Besides it was an easy way to visit Glendalough which I missed the last time I was in Ireland.